Twisted Hearts
by FourLeafClover
Summary: **NOW COMPLETE** Rory recieves a Valentine- but its sender will surprise her, and ultimately save her...TRORY
1. Chapter One

DISCLAIMER: We own nothing. Except for the plot. So don't sue.  
  
AUTHOR(S): FourLeafClover (the joint name of Tweak and Sleeping Star)  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Don't mind us. This is a perfect example of what happens when you watch the piano-kissing scene between Rory and Tristan over and over and over and over again.we are now spending a birthday sleepover fantasizing over what could have been. So send Sleeping Star a little birthday cheer and review!!!  
  
Just keep in mind that Tristan never went to military school. (We're hopeless romantics. We think it's something in the drinking water.)  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Valentines Day, thought Rory as she fiddled with the lock on her locker. Just another excuse for card companies and florists to service frantic boyfriends who've conveniently forgotten the date. What a complete and utter waste of space on my calendar. And my mother, bursting into my room at six am to borrow the love-heart shaped earrings I last wore when I was eight as the queen of hearts for Halloween did not help matters.  
  
Behind her, a giggling group of girls passed flowers and cards from hand to hand, looking at the crudely written contents with delight. Rory rolled her eyes. Typical. Who started this whole Valentine's Day business anyway, she wondered as she finally tugged her locker open.  
  
A single flower, a daisy, fell from the top of her books and into her lap.  
  
Well, that's just great.  
  
She stared at it, stunned, for a moment or two before self-consciously looking over her shoulder in search of the laughing pair of eyes that looked out at her from a hidden corner; but the only eyes that met hers were the curious ones of the girls standing behind her.  
  
Rory turned her head, her cheeks burning, and, hastily stuffing the flower into her backpack, grabbed her books and wandered off in a daze.  
  
Mum's going to have a field day over this, she thought wryly to herself.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
"So who do you think it is?" Lorelai asked as she fingered the battered daisy in her hands delicately.  
  
"I don't know!!!!" Rory cried as she frustratedly paused her solid pace long enough to run her fingers through her hair.  
  
"No note?"  
  
"No note." Rory confirmed as she plunked herself beside her mother, her hands over her face.  
  
"Don't go all melodramatic on me now; you said this morning Valentine's Day wasn't a big deal anyway." Lorelai finally put the flower down on the table and slung her hands over her daughter's shoulders.  
  
"Well, that was before I got one, wasn't it?" Rory stated matter-of-factly, removing her hands from her face and sinking down into the couch.  
  
"Look, uh, don't go all defensive on me when I say this, but I'd have a mind to suspect a certain town delinquent," said Lorelai, halting abruptly and changing tone as she saw Rory's face darken with anger. "No, Rory, think about it. Firstly, who else would know how to get past a combination lock unnoticed? Secondly, this person has to know you well enough to know that daisies are your favourite flower; and thirdly-"  
  
"But that doesn't make sense; he doesn't even go to Chilton, he had school today." Rory exclaimed.  
  
"Well, it's not like that's ever stopped him before." Lorelai retorted.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Rory inquired edgily as she leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"Rory, honey." Lorelai tried to regain Rory's attention as she placed a hand on her daughter's knee, "All I'm saying is that Jess.well, Jess is a troubled kid, you have to understand that. He got sent here for doing this stuff, he's-"  
  
"What would you know?!" Rory's voice became shrill as she felt anger boiling up inside her. "You're just making assumptions because you have some unexplained grudge against him!"  
  
"Rory, I know what I'm talking about; I've seen this happen before." Lorelai met her daughter's flaring eyes, before grabbing Rory's hands desperately, trying to get through to her. "He's screwing with your mind!"  
  
"You don't understand anything!" yelled Rory, throwing Lorelai's hands violently aside and storming to the other side of the room. "You think you do, but you don't! You don't understand Jess and you don't understand me!"  
  
"Of course I don't understand you!!!" bellowed Lorelai. "I don't string guys along before leaving them for dead!!!"  
  
A sudden, heavy silence fell and the room rang, reverberating with the poisonous words of the fight. Rory's head was reeling. Had she just heard her mother- her best-friend, down-to-earth, different-from-the-rest mother, suddenly turn on her?  
  
"Excuse me." She muttered as she turned on her heel, picked up her coat and headed out the door.  
  
"Rory, I didn't mean-" Lorelai frantically yelled after Rory's retreating back, only to be cut off by the door slamming in her face.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Rory's flushed cheeks were cooled by the autumn winds coiling down the empty streets of Stars Hollow. She wrapped her coat tighter around herself as she headed for the park; it was late, and there wouldn't be anyone around.  
  
She wandered down the meandering paths, unsuccessfully willing her mother's words out of her head again and again.  
  
After walking aimlessly down the paths she knew so well, she stumbled across a secluded bench; and she finally gave in to the aching in her legs and the throbbing in her head, sitting down heavily. It was quite peaceful there, watching the trees wave in their silhouettes against the sky. Her headache began to ooze away and she breathed deeply, savoring the fresh silent air.  
  
A heavy hand laid itself firmly on her shoulder.  
  
TBC  
  
P.S. Isn't that review button down there so very pretty? We think so. 


	2. Chapter Two

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Again, we own nothing except the plot, which isn't much but we would be supremely upset if you stole it and would come after you with flaming torches. You have been warned.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Rory froze.  
  
There was a snigger behind her, and a waft of pungent aftershave nearly made her ill. She could feel the blood draining from her face. The hand tightened its grip and ground unpleasantly into her collarbone.  
  
"A little late for a walk, princess?" The voice was dry and mocking, drawling over its words, taking its time while Rory, too scared to squirm, began to shiver. "Had a tiff with a boy, perhaps?"  
  
"Bound to have," snorted another, deeper voice behind her. "Pretty one like her, wandering all alone- boy's broken her heart, I'll bet it." There were grunts of laughter and Rory felt petrified to the spot. There were five of them, four if she was lucky. Four grown men, one of whom had a steel grip on her shoulder and seemed to be grinding her bones to dust.  
  
"Well, we can't have that, can we, boys? It being Valentines' Day and all." More laughter. A chin scraped against her cheek, gravelly and covered in stubble which ripped at her flesh. A breath, stinking of whisky, rushed over her as there was a harsh whisper in her ear.  
  
"Don't worry, princess- the lads and I will take good care of you. very good care." Rory's eyes closed in an agony of terror. She felt hands fastening around her arms and pulling her to her feet, and she was immobile, a puppet, unable to do anything except give in to the icy fingers clamped on her shoulder.  
  
Suddenly a voice cut through the haze.  
  
"Let her go."  
  
The sniggers stopped abruptly, and she could feel the attention moving off her like a high-power spot beam onto the disturbance. She recognized that voice, but the panic rushing to her ears blurred the memory so it felt like the fragments of a dream, half-recollected, in her mind. The hand, however, tightened its grip so intensely that she felt as if her bone would break. She gave a weak cry of pain.  
  
In the next instant an explosion of pain ripped through her head as a fist made contact with her cheekbone. She fell, lifeless.  
  
Tristan stepped forward out of the shadows.  
  
"I said, let her go."  
  
"C'mon," muttered the guy with the stubble to his crew. "She's got a boyfriend." Some murmurs of protest rippled through the motley crowd, but in the next minute they had melted into the shadows once again.  
  
Tristan glared after them menacingly, then dropped on his knees beside Rory's crumpled form. He fingered her cheek, which had a long gash along it- the legacy of the punch which had felled her. Then he helped her onto the bench and held her protectively, his eyes still staring out into the night.  
  
There was a whisper from the parted lips.  
  
".Tristan?"  
  
"I'm here. They won't be back." He rocked her gently, then held her under her lolling head and examined her cheek. "This needs a doctor. Let's go- there's a clinic near here-"  
  
"No." She cut him off abruptly and her eyes refocused for a moment as she looked up at him. "No doctors."  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Well then, let's at least get you home."  
  
Another slight shake of her head, a movement which brought crinkles of pain to her eyes. "I can't- go home. Not now."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Sure." The word was slurred. Her head rocked forwards and her eyes rolled backwards onto her head.  
  
"I'll get you to the car now. Then we'll figure out what to do. OK?"  
  
There was a slight flicker of movement, but no other signs. "I'll take that as a yes."  
  
He slipped one arm around her shoulders and held her hand tightly. "Can you walk straight?" There was a mumbled reply. "Then let's experiment."  
  
Carefully, one step at a time, they made their way out of the darkness.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Rory sank her back into Tristan's sofa. It was warm in his house, probably due to the fire crackling in the grate. Her head was still spinning from the crack on the head. She gingerly felt her cheek, which was beginning to swell.  
  
She looked up as Tristan entered the room, carrying a small box. He sat down on the coffee table, opposite her.  
  
"All right. Let's see what we've got here." He gently inclined her head one way to look at the wound in the light. She gasped with pain as his fingertips, gentle though they were, touched her cheek. His eyes were narrowed with fierce concentration.  
  
"Rory, can I ask you a question?" He dabbed a balm on the cut, causing it to sting slightly. Rory hissed in pain and clenched her fists.  
  
"Sure," she managed hoarsely.  
  
"Why were you wandering in the park alone at night? It's not something you'd usually do." Rory looked at him suspiciously, but his eyes were innocently directed on her cheek, where he was now applying a dusty antiseptic.  
  
"Oh, I had a fight. With Lorelai." She bit her lip, the pain of the evening coming back to her.  
  
"What about?"  
  
"Is it really any of your business?"  
  
"Hey, I saved you. A little courtesy would be nice. Hold still."  
  
"Since you insist on being curious. It was about this whole Valentines Day thing. It was stupid, really." She looked down at her hands. "Someone left a flower in my locker and we were discussing who it could have been when the tables turned. Suddenly it wasn't about the flower any more. It was about. everything. About Jess."  
  
"Jess?" There was a strange edge to Tristan's voice, but his hands were gentle as ever.  
  
"He's Luke's nephew. A friend of mine, but my mother," she took a deep breath, "doesn't trust him. He's not exactly the diamond in the rough, if you get what I mean."  
  
"I see," he said, leaning back as he surveyed her face. "Some people would take that as flattery, getting an anonymous flower on Valentines Day. But you always strive to be different, right?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, half-smiling at him.  
  
"Well, I prescribe bed-rest and plenty of fluids. Hot chocolate?" he asked, getting up.  
  
"If it's not too much trouble, that'd be great."  
  
She clasped her hands in her lap and looked around his living room. The fire was dying gradually, setting soft shadows dancing around the walls. In the kitchen she heard bangs and crashes. Eventually he re-emerged, carrying two mugs with steam pouring off them. The smell of hot chocolate filled the room, and some of the colour came back into Rory's cheeks as she smelt the air. He grinned.  
  
"Here. Oh-wait-" As she warmed her hands around the mug, he set his down on the table and rummaged in the first aid kit, producing a packet of tablets. "Guaranteed to make you a sleeping beauty in no time. Do you mind if I." She shook her head slightly, and he dropped two tablets into her mug. Then he took a long draught out of his own, and leaned back, looking at the fire.  
  
They sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or two, sipping their chocolate, each absorbed in their own thoughts- or so Rory thought. She was so engrossed in working out what had happened to her that she failed to notice Tristan's bright blue eyes gazing at her from under half-closed lids.  
  
Eventually she leaned forward to set her mug on the table, biting her lip. She suddenly became aware of how close their faces were, and how small the gap between them was. Their eyes met, searching for a flicker of consent; then, as if this were the only action in the world that would make sense, Tristan leaned forward and kissed her.  
  
It felt like it had lasted an eternity when Rory's eyelids drooped and she fell asleep, falling away from Tristan's lips as her head rolled onto his shoulder.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
P.S. That review button's feeling lonely. Come keep it company. 


	3. Chapter Three

DISCLAIMER: Do we really need to repeat this every chapter? Yes, go on, rub it in why don't you. We are poor souls who own nothing.  
  
Now onto the show.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Lorelai jumped up from her place at the couch at the sound of the doorbell.  
  
"What happened?!" Luke asked as he entered the living room, trailing behind Lorelai.  
  
Lorelai shrugged agitatedly. "I don't know!!! I mean, one second we're talking about Valentine's Day and daisies and other pretty stuff and the next second it's World War III!!!"  
  
She wrung her hands together, looking up at Luke despairingly.  
  
".And now, she's gone." she finished, and slumped down on the couch.  
  
"Hold on, hold on." Luke brought his hands up in the air, sounding confused. "Who's gone?"  
  
Lorelai took a deep breath. "Rory, Rory's gone!!! You know the little one that looks like me and follows me into your diner with her head in a book every morning!"  
  
"I know who Rory is!" Luke snorted as he grabbed Lorelai's shoulders to calm her down. "What exactly happened?!"  
  
"Did you bring some coffee? I need some coffee." She pushed past him as she walked towards the kitchen.  
  
Luke grabbed her arm. "Oh, no you don't."  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lorelai wailed as she spun around to face Luke again. "I'm just-I'm just not all here right now. My daughter's out there wandering, angry, and I've learnt the hard way that whenever Rory is angry, she goes blank! For once in her life, she doesn't think; she wanders aimlessly wherever her feet may guide her.I mean, as far as I know, she could be 'wandering' off the edge of a cliff!"  
  
"Lorelai! Firstly, there are no cliffs in Stars Hollow! Secondly, she'll be back soon; it couldn't have been that bad," Lorelai looked up at Luke, an unconvinced expression on her face. ".ok, forget that last part then."  
  
"It was Jess. I brought Jess into the picture." She finally admitted as she sat back down on the couch.  
  
"Jess?! What does Jess have to do with Valentine's Day and daisies and.other.pretty stuff?!"  
  
Hearing those words come out of Luke's mouth made Lorelai laugh wryly. "Nothing! That's the thing! Lorelai, the super screw-up mum found the sudden need to bring Jess into the picture for no particular reason, only to end up picking a fight with her daughter. Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen!"  
  
Luke finally gave up on comprehending what Lorelai was talking about, and settled onto the more important things at hand, which, when taken care of, he knew will ultimately lead to Lorelai speaking in more understandable sentences.  
  
He took a deep breath. "How long has she been gone for?"  
  
"Wha-?" Lorelai's demeanor immediately crumpled as she looked up at Luke.  
  
"Rory. How long has she been gone for?" he repeated.  
  
Lorelai sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "What's the time?" she mumbled almost inaudibly.  
  
"Uh.9:35."  
  
Lorelai brought her gaze back down to earth and looked at Luke, her eyes wide. "Two hours." She whispered, before grabbing Luke's wrist and taking a close inspection of his watch.  
  
"Two hours?! Why didn't you say she left so long ago?"  
  
"There were no clocks in the house! Well, there were, but my eyes are only digitally-adapted and Rory's usually the one who reads them for me, and.fine. I was waiting for her to come home, and I've learnt that in circumstances like these, one should avoid any form of time-telling object at all costs because it could turn ugly."  
  
Luke looked at her in utter bewilderment for a moment before finally speaking up. "Where do you think she might have gone?"  
  
"No-no-no. No way. I am NOT ringing my parents about this. I can see my mother's smug look now: 'Another fight with Rory, Lorelai? She seems to be leaving home quite a bit, don't you think? Takes after her mother, in a way.'" She imitated her mother's tone to perfection.  
  
"I never said that; but now that you bring it up, she DID go there last time."  
  
"No! That was different! She'll have learnt her lesson by now; never spend a night with the grandparents voluntarily."  
  
"Have you rung Lane?"  
  
"Yes. She said she hadn't seen her."  
  
"Did Lane have any idea where she might have gone?"  
  
"I don't know, her mum took the phone off her after one minute exactly."  
  
"Okay." Luke shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking on his heels. "Get your coat."  
  
"What?" Lorelai stared at him blankly.  
  
"Get your coat; we're going to go look for her. It's late, it's dark, and there is a teenage girl wandering alone out there." Luke motioned towards the window, where the wind was rattling the panes. "It's not safe."  
  
"Oh my God." Lorelai muttered as the circumstances she was in finally dawned on her. Rory, alone, darkness.images of axe-murderers, escaped lunatics and other things along those lines began to spin through her head like an over-worked merry-go-round. "What are you waiting for, diner-boy?! My kid's out there!"  
  
"Calm down.it'll all be alright." Luke followed Lorelai into the main entrance to the house.  
  
Lorelai spun around, her eyes in a panic. "What do you mean, 'it will be alright'?! Rory, darkness, potential axe murderers.you do the math."  
  
"I'm sorry, where did the axe murderers come from?"  
  
"From the fiery pits of maternal instinct." She rolled her eyes before speeding out the door.  
  
"Lorelai!" Luke hastily grabbed her coat off the rack beside him and ran out the door after her. "Great. Now I have two Gilmores to look for."  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
P.S. Thanks to all our reviewers!!! Yay! Brownie for you!!! (Bribery? What is bribery?) 


	4. Chapter Four

DISCLAIMER: Well, we're just about getting tired of this whole degrading 'we don't own anything' business, so if you want disclaimers look at the other chapters.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Rory opened her eyes slowly- her head felt strange, and ached. She struggled out of the blanket tucked around her and sat up. Where was she? Looking around the room, which was small and relatively tidy with a tiny fireplace, yielded no clues. She put a hand to her head. She struggled to find any memory at all from the night before, but nothing surfaced.  
  
There was a crash in the adjacent room- she somehow recollected that it was a kitchen- and the door opened. She pulled the blanket up protectively and cringed back into the sofa.  
  
Tristan entered, carrying a platter of waffles with a small smile playing on his lips.  
  
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up," he said, laying the plate down on the table and ladling out three waffles.  
  
"How did I get here?" Rory felt confused, but the smell of the waffles- and Tristan's smile- were comforting.  
  
"You arrived at my door late last night after some fight with your mum," Tristan answered innocently. It's half true, anyway, he thought to himself.  
  
"Oh- all right-" Rory felt her head, which was throbbing now. "I had the weirdest dream."  
  
"Fights with parents turn everyone weird for a while. Tell me about it." His eyes looked into hers and, even though everything was making less and less sense, she trusted him.  
  
"Well- yesterday was Valentines' Day, right?"  
  
"Right."  
  
"It's a silly commercial holiday and I really don't like it all that much- too syrupy for my taste."  
  
"Says the girl who has just poured half a pint of maple syrup on her waffles."  
  
"Ignoring that. So I wasn't too pleased- I was quite confused, actually- when somebody put a flower in my locker. I mean, what idiot puts a flower in a girl's locker? Usually the smell of gym socks would kill it in two seconds, and dead flowers aren't my idea of romance. Anyway, it's such a waste- and it's kind of cowardly too. I mean, if they like me they should come out and say it, instead of leaving little anonymous flowers." Tristan opened his mouth, and then shut it uncomfortably, his eyes suddenly darkening.  
  
"So what happened next?"  
  
"Well, I went home and talked about who could have sent it with my mum-"  
  
"And then you had the fight."  
  
"It was about. someone you don't know." Rory blushed and looked away.  
  
"This dream sounds quite specific." Tristan's eyes were pained, but his voice was jovial.  
  
"This wasn't in the dream, I remember this perfectly- it all happened, I'm sure of it. Afterwards, though." Rory looked down at her hands, her head swimming. "I'm not sure."  
  
"Just go on," Tristan urged gently.  
  
"Well- it's wild, really- I dreamed that I went to the park at night- something I'd never do usually- and there were muggers-" Her head began to pound again, and a recollection of the pungent aftershave resurfaced in her mind. It had seemed so real. "And I was petrified because there were five of them, and I couldn't do anything. and then." She went very red and fiddled with her fingers.  
  
"Then?"  
  
There was a long silence, Tristan looking intensely at her as if he couldn't tear his eyes away.  
  
"You saved me."  
  
Tristan looked down at the platter of waffles. "So- do you want- waffles?"  
  
"No thanks- I don't feel hungry. My head aches- and my cheek-"  
  
He hurriedly put the plates back in a pile and stood up. "Yeah well, must have slept on it the wrong way." Then he retreated into the kitchen, but not before looking back slightly wistfully at Rory, whose face was growing all the more confused as her hand moved towards her cheek.  
  
Her fingers touched the long gash and immediately drew away as she gasped in pain and the colour drained from her face. The mystery, the fragments of memory in her mind, suddenly pieced themselves together as a coherent whole. A panic welled up inside her.  
  
She ran, grabbing her coat, out the front door and away from the memories.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
Rory fled off the bus and down the main street, tears streaming down her cheeks. The salt made the cut sting, and she gasped for breath as the horror of the previous evening overwhelmed her once again.  
  
"Lorelai- Mum- she'll understand," she whispered to herself as she ran towards her home. "Oh God- I didn't ring!" Her speed picked up as she approached the house, relief overcoming her confusion. She burst through the door and stumbled forward breathlessly, hollering, "Mum! I'm home!"  
  
She stood silent for a minute waiting for an answer, but none came. She called again, but it only echoed through the empty house. Her mother wasn't home.  
  
Fear and uncertainty consumed Rory, and she sat down silently on the couch, staring blankly at the wall, silently willing her mother to come bursting through the door behind her.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
P.S. No, knowing what we're about to say does not make you psychic. Sorry for the disappointment. 


	5. Chapter Five

DISCLAIMER: Honestly now, do you *really* think we actually own this stuff?!  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
"Where could she be, where could she be," Lorelai muttered to herself as she leant forward in her seat, staring out the windscreen of Luke's truck for any sign of her daughter in the early morning streets of Stars Hollow.  
  
"Lorelai, calm down, we'll find her." Luke tried to sound reassuring, even though inside he was panicking.  
  
"Luke, you've been saying that for the past six hours!" Lorelai exclaimed as a new set of tears found their way down her cheeks.  
  
Ding-ding-ding, Lorelai Gilmore just made her first valid point, Luke thought to himself ill-humouredly as he gripped the steering wheel tighter.  
  
"Are you sure you-" Luke began before he was cut off by Lorelai.  
  
"Yes, Luke, I am completely sure that I rang my parents at 1am to see if Rory was there. They now believe that I am an insane, terrible mother and, for the first time in my life, I am inclined to agree with them on something."  
  
"You are not a-"  
  
"Yes, Luke, I am! Look at me! I've been searching for my kid all night just because I failed to stop her when she stormed out of the house in the first place: that's what I am, a failure. A complete and utter failure; I know, and so does my daughter, who now most probably hates me for all that she's worth, and, and.she's always going to hate me, and next thing I know we'll be like Sidda and Vivi-"  
  
"Sidda and Vivi?"  
  
"Yes! The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood! And.and we'll have screaming fights over the phone, and she'll move to New York and defame me in the newspaper, and I'll have to cut her out of my will, and then, then.Sandra Bullock will take over her body, and-"  
  
"Lorelai!" Luke stopped the truck.  
  
"What?! Did you see her?" Lorelai flattened her face against the windscreen, causing a pair of kids wandering past to run off in fright, before opening the door. "Rory?! Rory, sweetie?"  
  
"Lorelai, she's not there." Luke said bluntly, if only for the sake of quietening Lorelai for a moment. "We've been looking all night; don't you think it's time we called someone?"  
  
"I'm NOT calling my parents again! As far as they know, I had to rush off the phone halfway through their lecture because I had spotted her!"  
  
"I was thinking more along the lines of the police."  
  
"Argh, same thing." Lorelai muttered.  
  
"Come on, let's head back." Luke said as he carefully turned the truck around.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
"Lorelai! Listen to me! Before you call the police, try Lane again! Sookie, even! The diner! She's a Gilmore; she's bound to have needed coffee sometime or other between now and last night!" Luke yelled exasperatedly as they entered the house.  
  
"No, Luke, they would've rang me, they would have-" Lorelai stopped abruptly as she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind.  
  
She looked up at Luke questioningly as his face slowly broke into a small smile. "Presenting the long-lost Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." He grinned.  
  
Lorelai's eyes went wide as she slowly turned to face Rory. "My baby!!!" She engulfed her daughter in a hug which lifted her off her feet.  
  
Both were in tears by the time Lorelai finally set Rory back down on her feet.  
  
"Mum, I'm so-" Rory began before she was cut off by her mother.  
  
"No, no, *I* am, I shouldn't have-"  
  
"But I-"  
  
"Well I said-"  
  
"Then I-"  
  
"Oh my God, will you get it over and done with already! She's sorry, you're sorry, everyone's sorry!" Luke finally cut them both off immediately, something only few could ever manage to do.  
  
"Oh sweetie, what happened to your cheek?!" Lorelai's face fell as her daughter's hand rose to unsuccessfully hide a huge gash across her cheek.  
  
Luke immediately took a step forward to survey the damage as he suddenly felt himself getting protective of the girls.  
  
"It's a long story," Rory sighed, staring at her feet.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you, but I have a while." Lorelai smiled softly at her daughter as she lifted Rory's chin up to meet her gaze.  
  
"If you say so." Rory shrugged as they led her to the couch as she began to recall the events of the previous night.  
  
By the time she had finished, Luke had an empty mug of tea in his hands while the girls sat beside each other with Lorelai holding Rory protectively while nursing their newly-filled cups of coffee.  
  
"Well, you know what you have to do now, don't you?" said Lorelai. "As you learnt last night, you can't run away from your troubles; and more importantly, you never run away from a man who makes you waffles; he's definitely a keeper. Have I taught you nothing?"  
  
Lorelai looked up from her daughter long enough to smile at Luke, mouthing a small 'thank you' to him.  
  
"You're right." Rory slowly stood up. "I have to go find him."  
  
"You go girl!!!" Lorelai leapt up from the couch as Rory waved goodbye before disappearing out the door.without a slam.  
  
"She is so my kid." she muttered to Luke, shaking her head.  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
P.S. Be warned: we have nutella and we're not afraid to use it. 


	6. Chapter Six

Rory walked purposefully through the park's lanes, passing an early-morning dog-walker every so often. Strong feelings of déjà vu swept over her and last night's paralyzing fear raised its head once more, but her determination pushed it down again. She knew what she had to do.  
  
The park bench was no longer deserted. Tristan was sitting on it, his elbows on his knees, staring into space and twirling a daisy between his fingers. Tucking her hands self-consciously into the crooks of her elbows, Rory started towards him. He looked up slightly when she stood in front of him, then looked down at the flower without changing expressions.  
  
"Mind if I sit down?"  
  
"No- it's fine."  
  
She sat down beside him and put her hands in her lap. The silence was excruciating.  
  
"So- how's your cheek?"  
  
"It's better- thanks. For cleaning it up and everything, I mean."  
  
"No problem."  
  
She looked around in an attempt to find something to say or talk about, then noticed the flower in his hands.  
  
"Daisies are my favourite, you know."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
He looked up and stared straight ahead, and added a question hesitantly.  
  
"Did you really mean what you said about Valentines Day? This morning, I mean?"  
  
Rory was caught by surprise. She stammered out, "Well- yeah. To some extent."  
  
Tristan smiled and looked back down at the flower. "You'd better have this then," he said, proffering the flower to her. "Since I've already proved how cowardly I am."  
  
Rory was speechless.  
  
"It was you," she whispered, looking down at the fragile daisy in her hands.  
  
"Yeah, well," he said, half-laughingly, "I figured it would be romantic. My mistake. Sorry."  
  
"I- I didn't mean that stuff, you know. About Valentines Day and everything." Rory looked up at him, straining to meet his eye. "Thinking about it now, with the flower and everything, I think it's actually kinda- sweet." She went red. "Only I guess it depends on who- who it's from that really makes it count, huh."  
  
He turned his head and looked into her eyes. She smiled shyly.  
  
"Yeah, I guess it does," he replied softly, smiling back.  
  
And gently, slowly, their lips met, and the daisy fell to the grass, forgotten, as the world bloomed to them like a flower opening for the very first time in the sunlight.  
  
FINIS  
  
By Sleeping Star and Tweak (aka. FourLeafClover)  
  
~~*+*~~  
  
P.S. To review is not taboo. 


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